Farrell House Envy

Over the weekend I attended a local Holiday Home Tour.  It included A house that I have drooled over for a while.  In fact, I swore if that house every went up for sale I would buy it.  It was built in 1915 and is all kinds of fabulous.  I even wrote about it here.  But alas, when it did go up for sale, my husband objected, firmly, to buying a house that had original 1915 wiring and plumbing and windows--never mind the original fir trim, wrap around porches, sleeping porches, multiple wood burning fireplaces, history and charm and general fabulousness of the place.

The new owner, though in mid renovation, decided to be part of the holiday tour and cleared the dust long enough for a few local interior decorators to do up the place.

One of those lucky ladies was the owner of Camas Antiques, JoAnn Taylor.  I offered to help her. . . she nearly accepted.

But as a consolation, she did include several of our pillows in the decor of the master bedroom.

I have to say, I was a little bit green with envy while walking around the house (which distracted me from taking many pictures--and the ones I took don't do the place justice. It felt so big and spacious and. . . lovely).  I would LOVE to be in her shoes right now.

(Those french doors lead to large glassed in sleeping porch!)

And even though I would never decorate the bedrooms in Tiffany blue and vibrant orange, I am excited that she is going to have an open house in the spring when all the work is done.

You can bet I will be the first in line.

In the meantime, our cute little twin bed, which used to look like this:

is currently on display in the Camas Antique front window display.

And it couldn't look any cuter!

I am tempted to buy it back myself!

Happy Holidays!

Crisp. Clean. Christmas.

We seem to have a one track mind around here. . . Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!  We will soon get back to furniture make-overs and tutorials (We scored three adorable chairs are the Goodwill the other day that will soon be undergoing a make-over), but today I thought I would share a little more holiday festiveness going on around my house.

For starters, I finally got the flowers in my ironstone pitchers as was originally planned.

They add to the effect of the paperwhites--which I plant every year since I saw a house in House Beautiful years ago that incorporated paperwhites into its Christmas decor.

And they are now starting to bloom.

Every year I try to find a way to display my Christmas cards.  And since so many people now do flat picture cards, I can't stand them on my coffee table and living room shelves like I used to.  So this year I tried a variation of the giving tree I made for Thanksgiving.

Only I hung snowball ornaments and clipped the cards on with clothes pins.

Mine is a little large and unruly.  This wouldn't be such a big deal, except since my family room is devoid of furniture, we moved our living room furniture into our family room until we manage to agree on what to purchase.

This would be fine in the living room, but watching TV through branches isn't a big hit around here.

But luckily, I like it without the tree too. (I found a space for it on a side table in the living room).

What I love about this softer, whiter style, is how well it goes with the rest of the space. . .

I've been Christmas decorating in increments this year.  I have the living room mostly done (though devoid of furniture) but with added touches of red and blue (which I didn't think I would like together--hence the lack of red in the family room), but I bought some wrapping paper with blue and red and white that I love, so we're going with it.  I'll post pictures of that room later.

For now I will enjoy my serene family room/kitchen. . . until it gets bombed again by the kids, in like an hour.

***Linking with Rhoda at Sothern Hospitality***

White Christmas

Living in the NW I don't get a white Christmas very often (though they are predicting snow for next week--and I am not sure if I want to cross my fingers for snow, or for no snow. I do have to do some Thanksgiving traveling), so I decided this year I am going to make my Christmas decor a little more "white".   For years my Christmas decorating has focused on red, white, silver and glass with a loose snowflake theme.  And while I still love all that stuff and will likely use a lot of it in my living room, I am going to go a little more soft and natural in my family room, where all my decor is soft and natural.  Here is a peek at last year's decor. . .

All this getting ready for Christmas and making ornaments in October has given me the bug to decorate a little early.  And if my blog browsing is any indication, I am not alone.  I have gotten ideas here and there and two days ago inspiration for my banister struck.  A quick sketch and a little effort (including a trip to my yard to clips some greenery) and my banister came to life:

I seriously love all the creams and whites in contrast with the greenery and the black stair rail and picture frames.

I have recently seen a lot of various paper garlands and was excited to try my own. . .

And I am sure she is not the only one making these, but Christa, of Chloe Rose, is selling the prettiest little rag ornaments that inspired mine.  I spied them at Camas Antiques.  I LOVE her stuff.

What I really like about this style is how well it goes with my furniture and decor. . . and my dog! (who needs a bath and a hair cut).

 I don't think I will get sick of it as quickly as the traditional style Christmas decor. . .

Which is a good thing since I am starting early.  Although, with Thanksgiving next week it's not that early. . .

And since I have only done the banister and planted my paperwhites, I still have a lot of decorating to do.  Speaking of paperwhites. . .

(Do you like my new table? I just need to make slipcovers for the chairs now--paperwhites are planted in the pitchers and chamber pot)

I plant them every year in early November so they will bloom over Christmas.  I love the extra added something that fresh flowers give and their crisp whiteness adds so much to all my other decorations.

I ordered them online this year, in October, to get a better deal so I could plant more.  I also ordered two snowball amaryllis that I can't wait to see bloom.

You might have noticed my swag didn't actually reach the entire length of the banister.  It's close, but I want to decorate the rail along the hall upstairs also, so I better get back to work.  Especially if I want to make extras to put in the shop!

What is your Christmas style?

Holiday Open House

The Holiday Open House at Camas Antiques kicked off today, and it was PACKED!  There are so many fun vendors there and after Lisa and I put the finishing touches on our little corner we took a slow tour around the place and I snapped a few pictures of things that caught my eye.  You might notice a trend. . .

First a tour of our corner. .

And a few treasures NOT in our booth. . .

And the front window was adorably Christmasy in red and white.  I LOVE the hutch. . .

I hope you enjoyed the picture overload.  I tend to go a little camera crazy. . . ask anyone who knows me!

If you live nearby come visit in person.  It's like a treasure hunt in there and you are guaranteed to find something fabulous!

If nothing else, you can enjoy the lovely fall color making its debut outside the shop. . .